Almost a year has passed since Hurricane Katrina struck the US, yet coastal commercial property insurance rates are still causing pain, up 300-600% for the second quarter of this year compared with last year.

Although much effort has gone into safeguarding coastal centres in the event of another Katrina-scale event, US brokers say insurers are not aware of the coastal market and the preventative measures taken.

As premiums rise for coastal properties, average premiums for small commercial accounts have fallen by as much as 20% since last year, according to the recent commercial property and casualty insurance market survey by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers.

About 60% of the brokers surveyed reported a fall of about 20% in premiums in medium and large accounts. Commercial premium rates declined by an average of 3% for all accounts during this year’s second quarter.

Commercial property insurance was the only sector to average an increase during the three-month period – up 9.3%.